Michael Arace commentary: A new era for Browns? Not without receivers

Saturday

May 10, 2014 at 12:01 AMMay 10, 2014 at 10:26 AM

Just when it looked like the factory of sadness was going quiet, another thrum of the wicked machinery was heard across the lakefront. Cleveland was alive and atwitter after the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night. The Browns pulled off three trades, drafted a gifted cornerback and a celebrity quarterback and added another first-round pick to next year's cache. It felt like a miracle.

Michael Arace, The Columbus Dispatch

Just when it looked like the factory of sadness was going quiet, another thrum of the wicked machinery was heard across the lakefront.

Cleveland was alive and atwitter after the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night. The Browns pulled off three trades, drafted a gifted cornerback and a celebrity quarterback and added another first-round pick to next year’s cache. It felt like a miracle.

The Browns got Johnny Manziel with the 22nd overall pick, and Johnny Football fever gripped the city. New names were being tossed about: Johnny Cleveland? Johnny Brownie? Johnny Savior? The Browns sold 2,000 new season tickets and processed hundreds of renewals in a 12-hour span after the first round came to a close. No. 2 jerseys flew off the shelves of the team store.

Ray Farmer, the Browns’ rookie general manager, had shaken up the floor at Radio City Music Hall and draft dorks were slathering his report card with “A’s” and gold stars. A new era was born.

Then, star receiver Josh Gordon reportedly failed a drug test. A cloud of black smoke belched from the smokestack of the factory of sadness. It smelled of cannabis.

Is that overstating things? Only insofar as Clevelanders in general, and Browns fans in particular, are conditioned to be miserable, so they took this latest news in stride. What? Gordon got busted? A bright, new day was shrouded in black? It hurts. It always hurts. But it is not a shock.

Gordon was suspended for two games last season for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. The way that story went, Gordon tested positive for codeine, which he said came from a prescription cough syrup. He still led the NFL in receiving yards (1,646) — with Jason Campbell and Brandon Weeden doing most of the chucking — and became the first player to record consecutive 200-yard receiving games.

Last night, not an hour before the second round of the draft started, ESPN reported that Gordon had failed yet another drug test, this time for marijuana. Gordon now faces a one-year suspension.

There are aspects of this story that will strike Browns fans the wrong way.

Why did Gordon go on an ESPN Radio show yesterday, just before the news of his possible banishment was revealed? Did the Browns know he was to appear on the SVP & Russillo Show?

Gordon gushed about Manziel’s fire, ambition and talent. He even said that, if the Browns were to take another receiver, he was a big fan of Southern California’s Marqise Lee.

The Browns knew of Gordon’s failed test for at least two weeks, according to Cleveland.com. Why did they trade down from the No. 4 spot in the first round — where they could have grabbed Clemson’s Sammy Watkins, the one elite receiver available in this draft? The Browns instead took Oklahoma State cornerback Justin Gilbert at No. 8.

Gilbert is a fine corner, but the Browns needed a receiver. They still do. Last night, with the third pick in the second round, they passed on Lee and took Joel Bitonio, an offensive tackle out of Nevada. Lee was taken by Jacksonville four picks later.

Question: Is Gordon going to break this down to SVP on ESPN Radio?

Another question: Can Bitonio split out wide, run a 4.3-second 40-yard dash, cut on a dime and catch a football?

One more: Where is that homeless guy who told owner Jimmy Haslam to draft Manziel?

Find him. He will be muttering, “You’re going to kill Johnny.”

Manziel must learn to temper his brilliant, improvisational game and spend more time in the pocket to be effective in the NFL, and to avoid assassination. We can debate whether he will be able to make the transition, but, in any case, it just got harder. He will be asked to stay in the pocket, but where is he supposed to throw the ball? He has no receivers.

In this sense, he is just like 20 quarterbacks who have preceded him.

Michael Arace is a sports reporter for The Dispatch.

marace@dispatch.com

@MichaelArace1

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